Quotessence
Home / Authors / Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon Quotes

Screenwriter

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleIfsThinkingWritingKnowsWantWayBuffy The Vampire SlayerMenStories

Famous Joss Whedon Quotes

“There was this other apocalypse this one time. And, well, I took off. But this time, I don't... I don't know." "Well, what's different?" "Well, I guess I was kinda new to being around humans before. And now I've seen a lot more, gotten to know people, seen what they're capable of and I guess I just realize how amazingly... screwed up they all are. I mean, really, really screwed up in a monumental fashion." "Oh." "And they have no purpose that unites them, so they just drift around, blundering through life until they die. Which they-they know is coming, yet every single one of them is surprised when it happens to them. They're incapable of thinking about what they want beyond the moment. They kill each other, which is clearly insane, and yet, here's the thing. When it's something that really matters, they fight. I mean, they're lame morons for fighting. But they do. They never... They never quit. And so I guess I will keep fighting, too.”

LifeHumanityHumourNot Giving UpBuffy The Vampire SlayerHuman Insanity
Author:Joss Whedon
Create image

“Wherever I was, I was happy. At peace. I knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it. Time didn't mean anything, nothing had form but I was still me, you know? And I was warm and I was loved and I was finished. Complete. I don't understand about theology or dimensions, or any of it, really but I think I was in heaven. And now I'm not. I was torn out of there. Pulled out by my friends. Everything here is hard, and bright, and violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch this is hell. Just getting through the next moment, and the one after that knowing what I've lost...”

Life LessonsStruggleDepressionAlienationBuffy The Vampire Slayer
Author:Joss Whedon
Create image

“Why aren’t you asking a hundred other guys why they don’t write strong women characters? I believe that what I’m doing should not be remarked upon, let alone honoured… Because equality is not a concept. It’s not something we should be striving for. It’s a necessity. Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women. And the misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who is confronted with it. We need equality. Kinda now. 'So, why do you write these strong female characters?' Because you’re still asking me that question." [Equality Now speech, May 15, 2006]”

WomenEmpowermentEqualityGenderStrong Female CharactersMysogyny
Author:Joss Whedon
Create image

“I also felt that Ron and Hermione would have gotten divorced. I'm sorry, I just do. The end of Harry Potter did feel ultimately to me...just the fact everybody had married everybody. The books were so real and so grounded in what things are really like when you're that age, she nailed that so beautifully. And then there was this slightly fantastical ending. I know that was there for her to say, 'Really, I mean it, no more books,' but you do sort of go, people who were in a war are different from people who haven't been, and how does it affect them? But am I going to second-guess my favorite writer? I think not.”

HumourRealismRealism In Fiction
Author:Joss Whedon
Create image

“I saw Gert. The time machine took me back to a few years ago, the Yorkes’ house… and there she was. On the phone, organizing a protest against… the usual.” “You talk to her?” “You nuts? She’s fourteen—what do I say? ‘Hey, in a few years you’re gonna find out your parents are evil time-traveling overlords and help kill them, fall in love with the dumbest guy you know and than eat it ‘cause he’s too slow to protect you?’” “You could’ve brought her back…” “Butterfly effect, remember? Yeah, I looked it up. ‘Sides she had a few good years left. Which is more than I can promise with us. I just hid. Watched her for a while.” “Was it hard?” “It was f#%&ing beautiful.”

Gertrude YorkesChase Stein
Book:Runaways, Vol. 8: Dead End Kids
Create image

“Equality is not a concept. It's not something we should be striving for. It's a necessity. Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women, and the misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who's confronted with it. We need equality. Kinda now.”

InspirationalTruthFeminismEqualityFairnessFreedom Of Choice
Author:Joss Whedon
Create image

“Seven years, Dawn. Working with the Slayer. Seeing my friends get more and more powerful... a witch. A demon. Hell, I could fit Oz in my shaving kit, but come a full moon, he had a wolfy mojo not to be messed with. Powerful, all of them. And I'm the guy who fixes the windows. They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn't Chosen, to live so near the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me. I saw you last night, and I see you working here today. You're not special; you're extraordinary.”

InspirationalPowerSeeingOrdinaryExtraordinaryObservationUnderdogBuffy The Vampire Slayer
Author:Joss Whedon
Create image

“It may not feel too classy, begging just to eat But you know who does that? Lassie, and she always gets a treat So you wonder what your part is Because you're homeless and depressed But home is where the heart is So your real home's in your chest Everyone's a hero in their own way Everyone's got villains they must face They're not as cool as mine But folks you know it's fine to know your place Everyone's a hero in their own way In their own not-that-heroic way So I thank my girlfriend Penny Yeah, we totally had sex She showed me there's so many different muscles I can flex There's the deltoids of compassion, There's the abs of being kind It's not enough to bash in heads You've got to bash in minds Everyone's a hero in their own way Everyone's got something they can do Get up go out and fly Especially that guy, he smells like poo Everyone's a hero in their own way You and you and mostly me and you I'm poverty's new sheriff And I'm bashing in the slums A hero doesn't care if you're a bunch of scary alcoholic bums Everybody! Everyone's a hero in their own way Everyone can blaze a hero's trail Don't worry if it's hard If you're not a friggin 'tard you will prevail Everyone's a hero in their own way Everyone's a hero in their...”

InspirationalHumourIndividualityHeroismDr Horrible Sing Along BlogMusical Song Lyrics
Book:Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: The Book
Create image

“The first thing I ever thought of when I thought of Buffy , the movie, was the little...blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed, in every horror movie. The idea of Buffy was to subvert that idea, that image, and create someone who was a hero where she had always been a victim. That element of surprise ... genre-busting is very much at the heart of both the movie and the series.”

FirstsHeartLittlesIdeasGirlDarkHeroHorrorElementsVictimSeriesSurpriseGenreBlondeAlleysElement Of SurpriseBustingDark AlleysBlonde Girl
Author:Joss Whedon
Create image

“This is something that I do consider to be good advice: I took my first paycheck and I put it in the goddamn bank. Then I took my second paycheck and put it in the goddamn bank. I had seen the roller coaster of my father's career - top of the world, then unemployed - and I never wanted to take a job because I needed money.”

WorldFirstsWantedJobsFatherMoneyCareersAdviceNeededBe GoodUnemployedGood AdvicePaychecksRoller CoasterCoastersTop Of The World
Author:Joss Whedon
Create image